This is something I just thought of, and I have no idea if it has been suggested/tried and thrown out/ect in the past. So here goes...

Suppose you're sitting out at range, trying to find a target. I'd like to see the option to "telescope" you're radar, extremely limit rear radar and extend a small cone of forward radar a ton. This "searchlight" radar would be good for finding stuff but would limit your general awareness from behind/prehip. radar.

Although this might be more complicated, I'd like to see an addon that would allow a ship to detect when a "searchlight" radar scan is hitting it.

Thoughts?

Cool idea. Might work well with Incarnate's current thread about Radar range.

There needs to be something of a longer-term downside to the ping though. I think it would be effective for a ping cost nearly a battery's worth of energy (250 energy units?). Of course it would also limit your surrounding radar until... some to-be-determined point (when the energy was regained?). And your radar would get asymptotically better until this point was reached.

P.S. Sorry for the constant energy-management plugs, but there is so much we can do with the idea!

I like the energy usage, but I think I described what I meant poorly.

Instead of a single high-powered pulse, It's more like looking around through a telescope.
So, instead of an instantaneous energy drain, make it take up energy similar to turbo. 55/60/65 per second? After it's 'turned off', the previously zoomed cone of radar will exhibit normal power, and the weakened area will only return to normal after the powercell returns to full charge.

What do you think?

Sounds good to me!

I like it.

radar boost sounds like a great idea, and it could require more power in storms, and the raptor could have a crazy boost for not too much drain.

It might be interesting if your searchlight radar caused you to be detected at a greater range than normal, unless you had a special addon which offered a more controlled beam. Perhaps the option could be offered in a regular and enhanced version.

Maybe if it emitted some sort of color? That way the guy knew he was being targeted as well, and everyone in the sector would see it?
I could imagine that completely nerfing it though.

Very nice idea Spedy.

you saying to make the front or back radar circle into full screens with the comms box on top of it?

No, he's suggesting that you be able to, for a bit of a drain on your powercell, strengthen the range and accuracy of your forward-facing radar within a small cone (I would probably suggest around 30 degrees, or perhaps make it variable) at the expense of the radar strength in other directions.

It'd be like using a high-power flashlight as opposed to a traditional lantern -- you get more range but a much smaller field of vision.

Would definitely be useful in storms or fogged areas. Hitting those roids at high speeds because you couldn't see them until the last second hurts!

Given the Hog's long nose (and, of course, my affinity for flying one ;), it seems like it would be a great ship for this idea. Solid idea.

Wow, did not expect this to hit off so well.

@Aticephyr
I was thinking that if a person was being hit by the "searchlight" radar, it would make the person using it from far away appear on radar as a hostile, maybe with some other notification, like a proximity beep type thing. But, like you said, that could take away it's effectiveness

If this made it's way in-game It'd be awesome!

Given that this is something pointing in a specific direction, it should be taken into consideration that the direction that the nose of your ship is pointing is not necessarily the direction the player is looking in -- will mouselook users be able to "shine the flashlight" in different directions, or will this be fully dependent on the direction the ship is pointing?

I'd say limit it to the front direction of the ship as a limitation. It would make quite the difference for a pilot with the turbo locked as to whether mouse-look functioned for extended radar search.

Indeed. It would not make any sense to have the radar cone sweep with the mouselook vector instead of the orientation vector of the ship, and I like the idea of locking it to a hog; it'd get more love that way, and hogs need love.

No to a big purple cone of Where The Fuck Are You, I'm Right Here. Just make the user visible on radar to all others at 1.25 times the distance the radar searchlight allows you to 'see'.

No to a big purple cone of Where The Fuck Are You, I'm Right Here. Just make the user visible on radar to all others at 1.25 times the distance the radar searchlight allows you to 'see'

That's the very definition of said big purple cone. The limited field of "view," the sacrifice of other radar ranges by the user, directional tie to the ship orientation, and the energy drain of use are more than enough to offset the advantages of a directional radar. Making anyone using it visible on radar to the entire sector at 1.25 times the normal radar range--much less 1.25 times the distance of the searchlight's tunnel vision!--would be just plain stupid.

One thing that has never really been determined is whether our ships are using active or passive sensors. I would guess the answer is both, given the (current) ability to "see" anything in the sector, with more details as you get closer (your active sensors cause you to show up on others' passive sensors and vice versa).

Perhaps instead of making the person using this forward-facing radar visible to anyone within a given radius of the player in question, perhaps just make it so that if you're in the area of the radar cone, the person is visible to you just as you are visible to them. Otherwise your radar "signature" would remain as-is, or possibly even be reduced in all other directions.

Geeze, you're better at describing my ideas than I am MSKanaka.
You just re-explained (in a much clearer manner) what I was trying to say in my previous post. It'd make sense if a player would detect the extra-powerful radar hitting him/her.